Just a Joke -or is it?

I got the following joke from my buddy, Steve.

A Republican, in a wheelchair, entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee.  The Republican looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus sitting over there?"

The waitress nodded "yes," so the Republican requested that she give
Jesus a cup of coffee, on him.

The next patron to come in was a Libertarian, with a hunched back.  He
shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus, over there?"
The waitress nodded, so the Libertarian asked her to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, "My treat."
The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Democrat on crutches.
He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, "Hey there honey!  How's about gettin' me a cold mug of Miller Light?"  He too looked across the restaurant and asked, "Isn't that God's boy over there?
The waitress nodded, so the Democrat directed her to give Jesus a cold beer.  "On my bill," he said loudly.
As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Republican, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed."  The Republican felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door.
Jesus passed by the Libertarian, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed."  The Libertarian felt his back straightening up and he raised his hands, praised the Lord, and did a series of back flips out the door.
Then, Jesus walked towards the Democrat, just smiling.
The Democrat jumped up and yelled, "Don't touch me ... I'm collecting disability."

      It's just a joke, but think about it. A couple of weeks ago, former Senator Alan Simpson, one of the co-chairs of President Obama's Deficit Reduction Commission, was quoted as saying that the United States has become a cow with 310 million tits, that people were feeding off. I later heard a report that one in six Americans are in some kind of government program.
       Is that what we have become? The Country that was started by the Pilgrims, who fled religious persecution in Europe, in a small ship called the Mayflower, which could have been sunk by a rogue wave, to found a new country, where many of them died of disease or starvation over the next few years. The country that declared independence from Great Britain and many of the signers of the Declaration suffered horribly in many ways over the next few years. The country where Paul Revere rode his horse through the Massachusetts countryside warning the Minutemen that "The British are coming". The country with people like John Paul Jones, who as his ship was sinking during the Revolutionary war, shouted "I have not yet begun to fight". How about the people who loaded up their Conestoga wagons with a few cooking utensils, a couple of pieces of furniture, and the clothes on their backs and headed west to start a new and better life (they wouldn't have left, unless they thought life would be better)? Some stayed on the Great Plains where they started farms and built homes out of sod, others continued over the Oregon Trail to the West Coast where they settled. They faced brutal weather, disease, and Indians during their trip, yet they pushed on toward a better life. How about Davy Crockett, a Tennessee frontiersman, who served in Congress and then gave his life fighting for Texas freedom at the Alamo, along with Colonel William Travis, Jim Bowie, and about 200 others. This type of behavior is what came to be known as the "American Spirit". Does it exist anymore? How many people today could withstand a major natural or man made disaster for more than a day or two if the power was out and food, gas, and water were not available? How many would be screaming for government help if it went on for more than three or four days? Does anyone remember personal responsibility, or preparation, or individual initiative. Sadly, I think with all the instant communications, the need for instant gratification, and lack of individual initiative, that if something like that should occur, that society will start breaking down fairly rapidly because what used to be called the "can do" "American Spirit" is rapidly dying if it's not already dead.
Do we really have to get out of bed every morning and look to Washington, D.C. and ask "What are you going to do for me today?" Real Americans don't need to do that. We can take care of ourselves!